Oh boy oh boy. My absolute FAVORITE game
company has brought my absolute FAVORITE RPG series to my
FAVORITE gaming system, the PC. This is the first Final
Fantasy game that has made it to the PC, and from early
indications on FF8's platform base, it will certainly not be the
last. I bought FF7 for my PSX the very first day I could, and
have consequently enjoyed hours upon hours of incredible
gameplay that Square is famous for. Is this PC version as
good? Well, since the story and such has not been changed,
and the graphics have improved with crisp and clear 3dfx
support, I can answer that question with a resounding YES. If
you like console RPGs you must absolutely go out and get this
game. I have played every major console RPG game since the
NES, and this is definitely one of the best if not THE best one
out there.

Graphics: [20/20]

Graphically this game is stunning. The rendered
characters look incredibly sharp and well animated. The detail
on the characters themselves while you are exploring the
world is not incredible, but rather it is very stylized. Things like
having hands as squarish blocks rather than detailed fingers
and such takes some getting used to, but eventually you will
accept it as a unique and interesting style of anime, one that
works very well.

Things are completely different in the fighting
sequences. I am personally not a huge fan of the fight
sequences, I prefer to explore and talk and discover rather
than fight battle after battle. However, the fight sequences in
Final Fantasy 7 are nothing short of spectacular. The detail on
all the characters and enemies is simply astounding. I don't
know how long the Square artists must have spent designing
all the different monsters and mechanical monstrosities you
fight against in this game, but it must have been ages. Every
creature is rendered in equally impressive detail, with
amazingly smooth and detailed animation to boot. You WILL
be awed by many of the creatures you fight. The 3dfx graphics
in the fight sequence blow away the PSX version. I was
impressed to no end with the PSX version, but when I fought
the first battle on the PC version in all its 3dfx glory, I said
"goodbye psx, helloooooooooooo pc".

Equally impressive as the foreground characters is
the background environment. The pre-rendered backgrounds
are all exquisitely rendered with an creative and artistic ability
unmatched so far in any other game I have played. No two
environment even remotely resemble each other, throughout
the entire game you are treated to countless gorgeous scenes.
Considering the length and breadth of this game, that is a feat
that must be recognized. You will feel cold in the winter areas.
You will be afraid in the scary environments. You will feel
jovial and excited in the happy environments. You will feel
alone in the desolate areas. The ability to do this all comes
from the incredible background graphics. The _ONLY_
problem with the graphics in this game stems from the fact that
the characters were treated to a 3dfx makeover, while the
backgrounds are still standard PSX fare. It's not that the
backgrounds look BAD, but the high-res characters and the
low-res backgrounds clash, and unfortunately might make you
critique the backgrounds unfairly.

The CGI sequences so impressively and closely
intertwined with the actual game are nothing short of
spectacular. They ooze more refinement and artistic quality
than 99% of movies you have seen. Everything is rendered
impressively, the artists and directors managed to incite
emotions and/or awe in me with every single snippet of CGI.
Considering that video is of minor importance compared to
many other parts of an RPG, Square could have easily gone for
cheap and easy video, or no video at all. The attention placed
on the videos and the sheer brilliance of many of the
sequences is another reason why everybody should run out
and buy this game right now. As a tool to farther the story and
just as something to watch and drool over, you can't beat the
CGI in this game.

Sound: [15/15]

Square has always been known to have the highest
quality of everything in their game, and the sound department
in Final Fantasy 7 shows their dedication to this. The sound is
simply flawless. The sound fx are fantastic, perfectly reflecting
what things should sound like. Explosions sound like
explosions. Lasers sound like lasers (well..lasers are actually
probably silent in real life but they sound like what a laser
*should* sound like). Everything works together perfectly to
enhance the gameplay and draw you into the game. The
game is mammoth, there are millions of sound fx, each of
equally high quality. You won't find any placeholder sounds,
no mediocre sounds for some of the more obscure areas of the
game. Atmospheric sounds like birds chirping, wind howling
over the snowy plains, water dripping etc all add to the game.
Monster screeches and screams sound absolutely perfect,
especially the summoned monsters. Watching these gigantic
fearsome monsters screeching and screaming before they
attack is fabulous.

However, it is not the sound fx that make the sound
in this game deserve a perfect score. Rather it is the incredible
music that sets the game mood and gives an added level of
depth and emotion that is rarely found in RPG's. The score is
incredible, every song is used perfectly to convey a feeling.
There is adrenaline pumping, excitatory music, and there is
sombre desolate depressing music. The music is, with a few
exceptions, always present. The variety in the sounds is also
impressive, there seems to be music that suits every occasion,
but there is also familiar music that plays throughout the game
that helps to draw the entire game together as one. Every
piece of music is equally high quality, I actually imported the
FF VII game music cd just so I could listen to the tracks
whenever I wanted. Unfortunately, the one downside of the
sound is that it is in MIDI format, and those of us who don't
have sound cards that play MIDI very nicely might find the
music to be less than it actually is. I can assure you on a good
sound card, the music is incredible.

Gameplay: [24/25]

Let me start off by saying this game is H*U*G*E. You
cannot finish the game in under 40 hours or so, and that is just
skimming the surface of the game. If you want to explore
everything in this game, it would take literally hundreds of
hours. There is just so much content in this game, it is quite
beyond belief. There are many potential downsides to having
a story this large, that the plot will drag on, that there will be
many bugs, that you will just get tired of playing. Let me
clarify that the plot does NOT drag on. This is definitely one of
the best crafted stories for an RPG in existence. It is truly an
adventure of epic proportions, you will be sucked into the
storyline, it is incredibly well crafted while maintaining
diversity and excitement. You never do the same thing twice.
Every plot twist, every event that occurs fits in perfectly with
the story. There aren't any random events or twists that just
pop out of nowhere, everything fits together into the big
picture. As engrossing as the story is, I wish there was slightly
more character development and interaction, a qualm I have
with _ALL_ RPGs where the parties aren't fixed. I remember
back in Final Fantasy II on SNES, where you couldn't choose
your parties, rather the parties were formed out of interactions
between characters. In that game you could learn the
personalities of characters and how they react and interact
with other people. In Final Fantasy VII this is developed as far
as possible, and you do learn the personalities of the major
characters, I just wish there was a way to include everybody in
the character development process. This is a minor complaint
however, the story line is so engrossing that you won't notice
any problems at all.

As well, the entire game is simply FUN. Everything
you do is enjoyable, there is no monotony in the gameplay.
From doing funky jumps on your snowboard as you board
down snowy slopes, to playing arcade games and racing in
chocobo races in the Gold Saucer, there is so much to do and
so much to see that you will be overwhelmed. This game has
everything in it, the best elements from all the other genres of
games have been included and wrapped up in the nice RPG
package. The gameplay is never hindered either, due to very
fast loading times and almost no bugs at all. I have played
through the PSX version almost completely and a good chunk
of the PC version, and I have yet to encounter a single bug.
For such an incredibly huge game, that is an unheard of, but
welcome event. Never before has such playability and
narration come together with such a beautiful game. The
gameplay, obviously the most important part of any game,
especially an RPG has come through flawlessly and
breathtakingly in Final Fantasy VII. The story will engross you.
The plot will continue to twist and shift as if the game was one
giant screen play, you won't be able to get out of your seat.
The gameplay is diverse and fun, you never have to do the
same thing twice throughout the whole game. Basically, the
game is simply H*U*G*E and well crafted.

Another good thing about the gameplay is that the
objective is usually simple to follow. The game is a monster in
actual size, but you will rarely if ever be confused as to what
your next objective is. The minimal plot is carefully layed out
for you, to eliminate the clueless wanderings that could result
from not knowing what to do next in such a huge world. If you
want to stray from the main plot and take some time to explore
the world, that is simple to do as well, and returning to your
quest takes minimal effort. Although some of the puzzles are
tough, I rarely got exasperated or frustrated enough to stop
playing the game.

Finally, ingame menus and keys are very intuitive
and simple. Unlike some RPGs where
selling/equipping/moving items can be a game in themselves,
the menus are standard Square quality. Equipping characters,
changing party members, moving them from front line to back
etc. is quick and easy. Fighting menus are equally simple,
allowing you to concentrate on the fighting rather than
navigating numerous menus and submenus just to find the
"attack" button. Health and magic points is also very easy to
monitor, allowing you to determine the status of your party
with a quick glance to the bottom of the screen.

Fun Factor: [23/25]

As I mentioned in the gameplay section, this game is
just FUN. You won't be bored because of monotony, the game
has so much to discover and explore it is mind boggling. You
can spend hours upon hours just at the Gold Saucer, playing
the arcade games there and betting and/or racing in the
chocobo races. You can breed chocobos at the Chocobo farm
to get the elusive gold chocobo, and run around the world
discovering caves and hidden forests and houses. The world is
so broad that you can't possibly get bored. However there are
2 problems which annoyed me in Final Fantasy 7 and caused
me to take some marks off for Fun Factor. The main one is
excessive fighting.

I personally dislike fighting a lot in RPGs, I think
random encounters every 10 seconds or whatever is just
excessive and can become dangerously monotonous.
Fortunately Final Fantasy VII has the best combat in any RPG I
have ever played, but the fact remains that there is too much
random fighting. What aggravates me even more is that there
is no way to avoid fighting, it is a random occurance. I am
glad there is a move in RPGs towards actually seeing the
monsters before you fight them, allowing you to dodge them. I
think the excessive fighting hinders the flow of the story
slightly, not to a huge degree. Also it's not like Final Fantasy
VII has any more fighting than other RPGs, its just a problem I
think is engraved in most console RPGs. Hopefully Final
Fantasy VIII will have avoidable conflicts. Another problem
with the fighting is the time it actually takes. Because of the
impressive cinematics and animation (especially of the
summons), many attacks take upwards of 10 to 15 seconds to
complete. If you are tired of fighting, the sheer time some
attacks take to occur might make you want to say "come on
come on I've already seen this animation, let's just get on with
the fight". You won't ever get bored with the actual animation,
the time it takes to occur might make some people frustrated,
especially if it's a random fight you really don't want to fight.
Fortunately the gorgeous graphics and combat system of Final
Fantasy VII makes fighting less of a chore.

The second problem I have stems from the sheer
beauty of the backgrounds. Because the backgrounds are so
impressively complex and artistic, sometimes it becomes hard
to see where you can and can't go. Luckily you need only to
bring up the ASSIST cursor and it will indicate exits and
ladders for you. I still feel that sometimes you will just get lost
in the complexity of the world and it might take you a few
moments to see how to progress, because a path is obscured
by some background object. The addition of the cursors go a
long way to correct the problem, and there is no way Square
could have fixed this minor inconvenience without
jeopardizing the beautiful backgrounds, so I can forgive this
tiny problem. It is something worth noting though.

Multiplay: [NA]

It would be ridiculous to expect multiplay on this
type of RPG, so the 5 marks allocated to Multiplay have been
added to Fun Factor. What this game misses in multiplay is
more than made up with the huge game world and diverse
activities you can do, making multiplay completely
unnecessary.

Packaging: [5/5]

Installation is quick and simple, either a 260mb
install or a 460mb install. I would go with the 260mb install,
since the game had minimal loading time on the PSX's 2x
cdrom, so most of us with 12x or better CDRoms can have a
field day on loading time.

Overall Impression: [10/10]

I have been in love with Square RPG's since Final
Fantasy II on my SNES. After playing through that, I actually
went back to play and pass Final Fantasy I. Since then I have
bought, played, and passed every single Square RPG I could
get my grubby little hands on. I expect the utmost quality from
their products and Final Fantasy VII delivers. The graphics are
simply stunning, they up the RPG graphical ante by a HUGE
amount. The sound is flawless, the incredible music adds
another layer of depth to an already deep game. The
gameplay is smooth, diverse, and incredibly long, long in the
good way. It is never boring, the game is designed perfectly so
you can't get bored. The epic and beautiful story progresses at
a perfect rate. The world is filled with things to do, people to
meet, secrets to discover. There are no bugs, there are no
flaws. Combat is perfect (albeit slightly excessive) and control
is intuitive and helpful. Square include numerous little extras
to help with the gameplay (the ASSIST cursor for instance) that
help the game even more. I can't stress enough the length and
breadth of this game. It is HUGE. There is so much to do, so
much GAME crammed into the not-so-little 4 cd package.
Everything has the polished feel of a Square game. I love this
game to death. I want to have Square's baby. I should get a
Final Fantasy VII emblem tatooed on my back. Do you get the
picture? I REALLY LOVE THIS GAME! :) Go out and buy it.
NOW!!!!!! RIGHT NOW! Why are you still reading this...go on
shoo now. Get the game.

Rating: 97%

Rating97%

By: MagikCow

Introduction -

Final Fantasy is one of the most popular series of all time and
one of the best selling titles of all time. The first Final Fantasy
was for Famicon and then it came to USA as Final Fantasy. The
good old Nintendo game 2 and 3 never made it over here but
were big sellers in Japan. FF4 got ported over as Final Fantasy
2 for Super Nintendo. 5 never made it (actually it's QUITE good
- unfortunately, it's Japanese only, so unavailable in USA... as
well as console-only) and 6 came over to USA as the great epic
story thoughtfully called Final Fantasy 3 (to confuse the
already-confused American players) for Super Nintendo, then
SquareSoft diverted from the path of Nintendo and went with
Sony Playstation (selling over 5 million copies) for Final
Fantasy 7. But fortunately for us computer types who do not
deviate from console to console we have Final Fantasy 7 for
PC.

Console style vs. Computer style

With Final Fantasy 7 coming to the PC it has set a whole new
standard of playing for the computer world. Unlike the PC
RPGs, which are drastically different from console RPGs,
console RPGs emphasize battles more than character
development. PC RPGs have more of an open-ended storyline
whilst the console is more closely scripted. Console RPGs have
something of a cinematic quality to them, and it feels like
you're watching your character play rather then actually BEING
him; while, when playing PC RPGs, you feel like you ARE the
character, rather than just watching him.

Story:

This is where the story of Final Fantasy VII begins. It seems that
an evil power company called Shinra Inc. has found a way to
mine a life energy, draining it from the earth, and using it to
control the universe. A resistance organization known as
Avalanche, has vowed to put an end to Shinra's destructive
practices. The story focuses on Cloud, an ex-soldier of Shinra,
who teams up with Avalanche, and along the way, encounters
some very mysterious and powerful allies who help him fight
against the deadly creatures Shinra has created to protect its
empire. You, as the game player, will decide their [the
heroes'... well, the creatures too, in a way.] fate.

During the game, you will encounter friends, enemies and
other important characters in the story. However, depending on
how you play, you may not be able to befriend some of the
characters. The following are the main characters in the game:

The good guys:

Cloud Strife - The main character of Final Fantasy VII.
Originally a member of Shinra, is now a mercenary who will
take any job. After being hired by Avalanche, he gradually gets
caught up in a massive struggle for the life of the planet. His
enormous sword can cut almost anything in two.

Aries Gainsborough - Young, beautiful, and somewhat
mysterious, Aeris meets Cloud while selling flowers on the
streets of Midgar. She decides to join him soon after. Her
unusual abilities enable her to use magic, but she seems more
interested in the deepening love triangle between herself,
Cloud and Tifa.

Tifa Lockheart - Bright and optimistic, Tifa always cheers up
the others when they're down. But don't let her face fool you,
she can decimate almost any enemy with her fists. She is one
of the main members of Avalanche. She and Cloud were
childhood friends, and although she has strong feelings for
him, she will never admit it.

Barret Wallace - Head of the underground resistance
movement, Avalanche. He's fighting the mega-conglomerate,
Shinra Inc. which has monopolized Mako energy, building
special reactors to drain it from within the planet. Barret
depends on brute strength and his "Gun-arm" to see him
through. His wife died in an accident several years ago, and he
now lives with his daughter Marlene.

Red XIII - Just like his name says, he is an animal with fire-red
fur. But under this fierce exterior is an intelligence surpassing
that of any human's. His sharp claws and fangs make him good
at close-range fighting, but other than that, not much else is
known about him. It's not even certain "Red XIII" is his real
name. A real enigma.

Cid Highwind - Cid is a tough talking, warm-hearted old pilot
who hasn't forgotten his dreams. There's no better pilot who
ever flew either by air or by sea. He believes someday he'll fly
to the ends of the universe. With his hand-made spear and
knowledge of machinery, he throws himself into any attack
regardless of the danger.

Yuffie Kisaragi - Although you'd never know if you looked at
her, Yuffie comes from a long line of ninja ancestors. She
forced herself into the group just to get a certain something...
She's sneaky, arrogant and "way" selfish. But with her super
shuriken and her special skills, there isn't anyone else you'd
rather have on your side in a fight.

Cait Sith - Cait Sith rides around on the back of a huge stuffed
Mog he magically brought to life. Megaphone in hand, he's
always shouting orders and creating dopey attacks. When his
slot machine attack works, the enemy camp looks like an
overturned toy box. His hobby is fortune-telling, but like his
personality, it's pretty unreliable.

Vincent Valentine - A mystical man, stern and upright while at
the same time dark and mysterious. His past connection with
Shinra is what made him join Cloud and the others. He may
seem frail at first glance, but hidden inside his body lurks a
fearsome power.

The bad, evil dude:

Sephiroth - Even amongst the elite troops of Shinra, Sephiroth
is known to be the best. His past is locked away in a
confidential file held by Shinra Inc. His giant sword, which only
he can handle, has extremely destructive power. Said to have
disappeared in a battle years ago, his current whereabouts are
unknown.

Vehicles -

Chocobo: By using the Chocobo Lure materia in specified
areas on the world map, you'll be allowed to hop on Chocobo
and move around the flat surfaces and swamps. A Chocobo is a
little chicken like bird.

Submarine: Not only does this move undersea, it also
navigates on the sea. Be careful because it'll only stop at
certain places.

Highwind: This gigantic sky-flying vehicle belonging to the
Shinra is the fastest means of transportation. On the world
map, it can fly anywhere except for the mountain areas. One
word - airship.

Tiny Bronco: Cid will control this vehicle across the shallow
water, but not in the sky! [Note: ABSOLUTELY no relationship to
O.J. Well... theoretically.]

Combat:

The combat is like most console games - it's a game where you
click OK or Cancel from a menu of commands. You can attack,
summon, use magic, sense, steal, Enemy Skill, or use an item.
The items you can use are varied, such as potions to heal
yourself, or different potions to cure different aliments you
have. Enemy Skill is an ability which allows you to use a skill
of an enemy that you've learned. Stealing is that what it
sounds like... that which you were told is very bad since you
were born. Well... it comes in useful sometimes. Don't quote
me on that.

The New battle system:

The new battle system that makes FF7 different from others
involves the Limit Break Command and equipping the Materia.
The Limit gauge starts to fill up with each attack. Once the
gauge is full, each character performs its unique attack (Limit
Attack). Materia (Mako crystals) are magic orbs packed with
ancient skills and knowledge. Special effects become
available to the equipped character, like magic, the ability to
steal, and the ability to summon huge monsters to pound the
crap out of the other monsters. You can summon from a little
chicken like thing called a Chocobo to a big dragon that shoots
beams from outer space (my personal favorite - nothing better
than 'huge brother' intimidation.)

Saving:

You save games by going to save spots or by going out on the
3D world of midgar. There are 10 save banks that have 15 slots
each. It's very useful because you can just put it on a disk and
give it to your friend, or transport it anywhere you want. That's,
unfortunately, where the game blatantly shows its console
origins - the PC game players are quite used to saving every 10
seconds if they feel like.

Mini games:

There are many so-called 'mini games', playing which you can
take a break from all the fighting, just to have some fun.
There's submarine game where you can go and shoot
submarines, motorcycle game [don't expect any Moto Racer
fun though], a mog feeding game, and a fighting game [Did I
say take a break from fighting? Sorry, I screwed up. Sue me.]

Graphics:

When being ported to PC from the PlayStation, SquareSoft had
their work cut out for them. The objects, backgrounds and all
the other graphics were redone as to use the power of the...
no, the 3Dfx, as well as the other host of D3D cards. The
amount of work was increased by the fact that the original FF7
wasn't intended to be ported - so they had to rework it. The
other task they had to face was making it decently playable -
since most of the other PSX ports where either not looking
right, had extremely bad control or were completely worthless.
But FF7 for PC breaks the mold and is now a game that is
superior to the PlayStation version. Before I wrote this review I
went back to playing my PSX copy of FF7 and well... there is
just no comparison. The guys where blocky and the music was
horrible, so I went and sold it to my friend that has been
nagging me to sell it to him. Hey, what was I supposed to do
with it, anyway? 640x480 battle scenes are amazing. For the
first time I could actually see some parts of the game other
then blurry spec on the screen, all thanks to wonderful bilinear
filtering. The Glide is now gone, don't really know why. The
game uses the following features - and doesn't use them as
buzzwords, it actually makes good use of them in the game:
- Triangle Textures
- Flat-Shaded Triangles
- Gouraud-Shaded Triangles Source Blend Mode 1
- Destination Blend Mode 1
- Source Alpha
- Destination Inverse Src. Alpha
- 8-bit Paletted Textures

Eidos lists the supported cards as 3Dfx Voodoo, 3Dfx Voodoo 2,
3Dfx Voodoo Rush, 3Dlabs Permedia2, ATI Rage Pro, and Intel
i740. The Matrox G200 and PowerVR2 will be supported when
they launch as well. Apparently, Riva128 and Rendition V2x00
chipsets are missing one or more of the above-mentioned
required D3D features, and owners of those chipsets are stuck
using software mode. The latest word from Eidos is that they're
working on a solution for those two chipsets. Software
rendering supports three modes - 320x240 full screen, 640x480
quarter screen, and 640x480 full screen.

FMVs:

There are people who complained about the crappy looking
FMVs. I went and played the Avi's on my computer by going
through the directory and it looks better than the PlayStation.
I'm guessing it's because my 3D card is playing the video's as a
backdrop for the 3d guys. I suppose it'll be fixed with the next
generation of 2D/3D cards. When it comes down to it I've seen
worse on PC games.

Sound:

The sound in this game is more crisp and is of much higher
quality than the PlayStation version. You have 3 choices of
Midi support: General Midi, XG Midi (for owners of the amazing
XG midi card - me! :)), or you can use the XG Midi software
render for FM cards to make them sound LIKE a wavetable
cards - but... well, software emulation. You know the
repercussions. And at last.. the SB AWE32 and 64s can use
SoundFont to get better sounds. Helps if you have some extra
RAM on it, too.